Courtney Bender is an associate professor of sociology at Columbia University and co-chair of the SSRC’s Working Group on Spirituality,…
Spirituality, entangled: An interview with Courtney Bender
spirituality
Serving the master
Religion Dispatches reviews Lake Lambert's Spirituality, Inc.: Religion in the American Workplace (NYU Press, 2009).
Was early America a Christian America?
The furious debate in some quarters over whether America was born a “Christian nation” is ironic. The historical record shows…
The (really) strong program
Whenever there is talk about an ‘emerging strong program’ and ‘a new sociology of religion,’ we need to keep in…
Exploring Buddhist violence
Michael Jerryson discusses his new book Buddhist Warfare, co-edited with Mark Juergensmeyer, at Religion Dispatches, explaining "how the notion of…
Spirit quest
At the New York Times, Charles M. Blow weighs in on new data showing that "Young adults are looking for…
Pink ouija board targets young girls as spiritists or spiritual victims
Courtney Bender explores the criss-crossing lines of gender, power, and spirituality in the controversy surrounding Hasbro's release of a hot…
Transcendence in the brain
The current issue of Nature includes a report on a new study in Italy about the connections between certain brain…
Religion’s reputation
In 2008, roughly 15 percent of Americans told telephone surveyors with the American Religious Identification Survey that they had no…
Sportualism in America
In an article published this week in USA Today, Tom Krattenmaker explores the directed effort by religious groups to infiltrate the wide…